Nine Things
To Know About
Stem Cell Treatments

Nine Things To Know About Stem Cell Treatments

Many clinics offering stem cell treatments make claims that are not supported by a current understanding of science

Stem cells have tremendous promise to help us understand and treat a range of diseases, injuries and other health-related conditions. Their potential is evident in the use of blood stem cells to treat diseases of the blood, a therapy that has saved the lives of thousands of children with leukemia; and can be seen in the use of stem cells for tissue grafts to treat diseases or injury to the bone, skin and surface of the eye. Important clinical trials involving stem cells are underway for many other conditions and researchers continue to explore new avenues using stem cells in medicine.

There is still a lot to learn about stem cells, however, and their current applications as treatments are sometimes exaggerated by the media and other parties who do not fully understand the science and current limitations, and also by “clinics” looking to capitalize on the hype by selling treatments to chronically ill or seriously injured patients. The information on this page is intended to help you understand both the potential and the limitations of stem cells at this point in time, and to help you spot some of the misinformation that is widely circulated by clinics offering unproven treatments.

It is important to discuss these Nine Things to Know and any research or information you gather with your primary care physician and other trusted members of your healthcare team in deciding what is right for you.

1

Currently, very few stem cell treatments have been proven safe and effective

The list of diseases for which stem cell treatments have been shown to be beneficial is still very
short. The best-defined and most extensively used stem cell treatment is hematopoietic (or blood) stem
cell transplantation, for example, bone marrow transplantation, to treat certain blood and immune
system disorders or to rebuild the blood system after treatments for some kinds of cancer.

Some bone, skin and corneal (eye) injuries and diseases can be treated by grafting or implanting
tissues, and the healing process relies on stem cells within this implanted tissue. These procedures
are widely accepted as safe and effective by the medical community. All other applications of stem
cells are yet to be proven in clinical trials and should be considered highly experimental.

Beware of stem cell treatments offered without regulatory approval or outside the confines of a
legitimate and registered clinical trial.

2

There is something to lose when you try an unproven treatment

When there is no existing or effective treatment for a disease or condition, it is easy to understand
why you may feel there is nothing to lose from trying something new, even if it isn’t proven.
Unfortunately, most of the unproven stem cell treatments for sale throughout the world carry very
little promise of actual benefit and very real risks:

Complications may create new short- and long-term health problems, and/or may make your condition
or symptoms more difficult to manage

Receipt of one unproven or experimental treatment may make you ineligible for future clinical
trials or treatment options

Out-of-pocket expenses could be enormous. In addition to treatment costs, there may be
accommodation charges or other fees. In most cases, insurance companies and government health
programs do not cover the cost of experimental treatments

If travel is involved, there are additional considerations, including time away from friends and
family

Before you decide whether to pursue an unproven or experimental treatment, carefully assess the
treatment you are considering. Weigh the risks and potential benefits. Get input from your loved ones
and from your healthcare team; they may provide insight you haven’t thought of.

Unproven treatments present serious health, personal and financial considerations. Consider what
might be lost and discuss these risks with your family and healthcare providers.

3

Different types of stem cells serve different purposes in the body

Different types of stem cells come from different places in your body and have different functions.
Learn more about various types of stem cells here.

Scientists are exploring the different roles tissue-specific stem cells might play in healing, with the
understanding that these stem cells have specific and limited capabilities. Without manipulation in the
lab, tissue-specific stem cells can only generate the other cell types found in the tissues where they
live. For example, the blood-forming (hematopoietic) stem cells found in bone marrow regenerate the
cells in blood, while neural stem cells in the brain make brain cells. A hematopoietic stem cell won’t
spontaneously make a brain cell and vice versa. Thus, it is unlikely that a single cell type can be
used to treat a multitude of unrelated diseases involving different tissues or organs.

Be wary of clinics offering treatments with stem cells originating from a part of your body
unrelated to your disease or condition.

4

The same stem cell treatment is unlikely to work for different diseases or conditions

Because stem cells that are specific to certain tissues cannot make cells found in other tissues
without careful manipulation in the lab, it is very unlikely that the same stem cell treatment will
work for diseases affecting different tissues and organs within the body.

Scientists have learned to make certain specialized cell types through a multi-step processes using
pluripotent stem cells, that is embryonic stem cells or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. These
cells have the potential to form all the different cell types in the body and offer an exciting
opportunity to develop new treatment strategies. Embryonic stem cells and iPS cells, however, are not
good candidates to be used directly as treatments, as they require careful instruction to become the
specific cells needed to regenerate diseased or damaged tissue. If not properly directed, these stem
cells may overgrow and cause tumors when injected into the patient.

View clinics that offer the same cell treatment for a wide variety of conditions or diseases with
extreme caution. Be wary of claims that stem cells will somehow just know where to go and what to
do to treat a specific condition.

5

The science behind a disease should match the science behind the treatment

The more you know about the causes and effects of your disease, the better armed you are to identify
your best treatment options. If you have a certain type of blood cancer, for example, transplantation
with blood-forming stem cells makes sense, as the treatment requires those specific cells to do exactly
what they are designed to do. If you have diabetes, receiving a blood-forming stem cell treatment
doesn’t make sense, because the problem is in the pancreas rather than in the blood itself. Without
significant and careful manipulation in the lab, tissue-specific stem cells do not generate cell types
found outside of their home tissues.

Your best protection against clinics selling unproven stem cell treatments is an understanding of
the science behind your disease, injury or condition.

6

Cells from your own body are not automatically safe when used in treatments

In theory, your immune system would not attack your own cells if they were used in a transplant. The
use of a patient’s own cells is called an autologous transplant. However, the processes by which the
cells were acquired, grown and then reintroduced into the body would carry risks. Here are just a few
known risks of autologous stem cell treatments:

Any time cells are removed from your body, there is a risk they may be contaminated with viruses,
bacteria or other pathogens that could cause disease when reintroduced

Manipulation of cells by a clinic may interfere with their normal function, including those that
control cell growth

How and where the cells are put back into your body matters, and some clinics inject cells into
places where they are not normally present and do not belong

Every medical procedure carries risk; be wary of clinics that gloss over or minimize the risks
associated with their treatments.

7

Patient testimonials and other marketing provided by clinics may be misleading

It can be hard to tell the difference between doctors conducting responsible clinical trials and
clinics selling unproven treatments. One common differentiator is the way a treatment is marketed. Most
specialized doctors receive patient referrals, while clinics selling stem cell treatments tend to
market directly to patients, often through persuasive language on the Internet, Facebook and in
newspaper advertisements.

Clinics peddling unproven stem cell treatments frequently overstate the benefits of their offerings and
use patient testimonials to support their claims. These testimonials can be intentionally or
unintentionally misleading. For example, a person may feel better immediately after receiving a
treatment, but the perceived or actual improvement may be due to other factors, such as an intense
belief that the treatment will work, auxiliary treatments accompanying the main treatment, healthy
lifestyle changes adapted in conjunction with the treatment and natural fluctuations in the disease or
condition. These factors are complex and difficult to measure objectively outside the boundaries of
carefully designed clinical trials. Learn more about why we need to perform clinical trials here.

Beware of clinics that use persuasive language, including patient testimonials, on the Internet,
Facebook and newspapers, to market their treatments, instead of science-based evidence.

8

An experimental treatment offered for sale is not the same as a clinical trial

The fact that a procedure is experimental does not automatically mean that it is part of a research
study or clinical trial. Responsible clinical trials share several important features:

They build upon their own preclinical data, lab-based research on cells, tissues and
animals, that indicates the treatment being tested is likely to be safe and effective

Conformity to regulatory requirements, including a listing in a recognized clinical trial registry

A structure designed to answer specific questions about a new treatment or a new way of using
current treatments (results are usually compared with a control group of patients who do not
receive the experimental treatment)

The cost of the new treatment and monitoring is not covered by the participant

Responsibly-conducted clinical trials are critical to the development of new treatments. Learn more
about clinical trials here.

Beware of expensive treatments that have not passed successfully through clinical trials.

9

The process by which science becomes medicine is designed to minimize harm and maximize effectiveness

There is a lengthy, multi-step process involved in responsibly translating science into safe and
effective medical treatments. During this process, scientists may discover that an approach that seemed
promising in the lab, does not work in animals, or that an approach that worked in animals, does not
work in humans. They may discover that a treatment effectively addresses symptoms of a disease or
injury in humans, but that it carries unacceptable risks. Scientists carefully review and replicate
their work, and invite their peers to do the same. This process by which science becomes medicine is
often long, but it is designed to minimize patient harm and to maximize the likelihood of
effectiveness. Learn more about how science becomes medicine here.

Beware of clinics that circumvent the accepted process by which science becomes medicine.

Stem cell researchers are making great advances in understanding normal development, figuring out what goes wrong in disease and developing and testing potential treatments to help patients. They still have much to learn, however, about how stem cells work in the body and their capacity for healing. Safe and effective treatments for most diseases, conditions and injuries are in the future.